nice

NAME

nice - run a command with a non-standard priority

SYNOPSIS

nice [-n increment] utility [argument ...]
nice [-increment] utility [argument ...]

DESCRIPTION

The nice(1) command runs the specified utility with one or more given argument using a different scheduling priority. The increment is used to specify the change in priority. It can only be run successfully by a user with the appropriate privileges.

To give a command a higher priority use a negative increment.

If you do not specify an increment, the command runs at a slightly reduced priority.

To change the priority of a running process, use the renice(1) command.

The nice(1) utility takes the following options:

increment

-n increment

Alter the utility's status by increment. A negative increment gives the command a higher priority, so it runs at the expense of other processes. A positive increment gives the command a lower priority, so other processes receive precedence of utility.

DIAGNOSTICS

If nice(1) succeeds in running utility, it returns the exit status of utility. Otherwise, it returns one of the following values:

1-125

An error occurred in nice(1) itself.

126

The utility could not be invoked.

127

The utility could not be found.

SEE ALSO

renice(1)